Lamola rejects US visa curbs as Rubio names no individuals

International Relations and Co-operation Minister Ronald Lamola has rejected a new United States visa restriction policy aimed at South Africans, saying no group may speak for the country’s minorities and that the laws Washington objects to were made through South Africa’s own constitutional process.

As IOL reported on 17 September, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the restrictions on Tuesday under the Immigration and Nationality Act. The policy applies to foreign nationals the US says are responsible for, or complicit in, laws or policies enabling uncompensated land seizures, race-based discrimination, or the incitement of imminent violence against minority ethnic or racial groups in South Africa. Family members of targeted individuals may also be covered.

No individuals were named in the announcement.

What Washington says, and what South Africa says

Rubio said the South African government had not adequately addressed concerns the US had raised previously, and urged it to act quickly. “The South African government has not adequately addressed the previously laid out concerns and so today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy,” he said.

Lamola said he had noted the restrictions with concern, and pointed to fringe groups he said misrepresent South Africa’s domestic policies while presenting themselves as the voice of minorities and Afrikaners.

“It is our sovereign right to put in place laws that address the nation’s concern over centuries of racial injustice,” he said. “Legislation in the democratic era is intended to improve the plight of the people who had been excluded for centuries. This is consistent with other countries who have a similar experience to South Africa.”

He said the country remained committed to dealing with the injustices of the past through its constitutional and democratic framework, and that building a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights is a constitutional imperative.

The law that already exists

Lamola’s answer on the incitement question rests on the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Act 16 of 2023. He said the Act sets a stringent legal framework for eradicating hate speech and prosecuting hate crimes, and that it binds both the state and non-state actors.

That is the part of the exchange a South African reader can check without leaving the country. The Act was signed into law in 2023 and carries criminal liability, which means the conduct Washington describes as unaddressed is already the subject of a statute on our books.

Lamola also rejected the suggestion that South Africa’s approach to crime targets people by race, colour or social origin. “The South African government remains seized with the challenges of crime in South Africa which affects everyone and is not targeting anyone based on their race, colour, or social origin,” he said.

Why a visa policy lands here

A US visa restriction does not change a single law in South Africa. It changes who may travel to the United States, and for a small number of people it closes a door that was open last week.

The practical effects are narrow and personal. Anyone covered by the policy, and in some cases their immediate family, faces refusal at a US consular post. Business travel, university placements, family visits and medical referrals all run through the same visa system, and a refusal on a named policy ground is recorded.

The wider cost sits in the relationship. South Africa and the US are mid-negotiation on a set of bilateral issues, and Lamola said those discussions had shown how much weight both sides place on finding a lasting solution. “The discussions have highlighted the need for any resolution to consider South Africa’s unique circumstances and to respect its democracy, constitution, sovereignty, and the will of its people,” he said.

His closing position was that the route out is through government channels on both sides, not through unilateral measures.

“We maintain that challenges in our bilateral relations with the USA can only be resolved by constructive engagement through state actors on both sides of the diplomatic channel, not unilateral acts.”

South Africa respects the right of the United States to hold different views on particular measures, Lamola said, but expects the same respect for its sovereignty.

Where it goes next

The two governments remain in bilateral discussion, and that channel is the only one either side has put on the table. Rubio’s statement keeps the pressure on Pretoria to move on the concerns Washington has raised. Lamola’s response keeps South Africa’s position where it has been, that its laws are made here and answer to the Constitution.

No individuals have been named, no list has been published, and no date has been set for the next round of talks.

Source: IOL, Minister Lamola pushes back against new US visa restrictions.